


Alien Worlds - Extra Episodes

by Viandemoisie



Category: Alien Worlds - Fandom
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Aliens, Anatomy, Biology, Biome, Ecology, Environment, Gen, Nature, Science, Science Fiction, Speculative Evolution, Xenobiology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28663968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viandemoisie/pseuds/Viandemoisie
Summary: If you have Netflix, go watch the show Alien Worlds, it's the best thing ever. It's speculative evolution on ficitonal alien planets, using the laws of physics and biology to imagine xenobiology adapted to survive on planets with different physical constraints than Earth.This written work is heavily inspired by Alien Worlds' core theme and idea, so presenting plausible xenobiology on other worlds (well, as best as I can manage, I know science a bit but I'm not an expert in every fields, especially not physics), adapted for survival with conditions different from Earth. However, I might add some human characters to spice the writings up, scientists sent on other worlds to study this extraterrestrial biology.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Introduction

INTRODUCTION

The first chapter will serve as an introduction for the concept of this, huh, miniseries? Episodic entertainment novellas? Fanfiction kinda but not really?

Each chapter will be a different planet with a new biology. Each chapter will start with a planetary introduction which will look like this:

[PLANET NAME]

STAR

ORBITAL DISTANCE

MASS

DIAMETER 

ORBITAL PERIOD

ENERGY FLUX

DAY LENGTH

This format is taken from the show Alien Worlds, representing the mesureable physical parameters that interact strongly with biology and ecology. Usually, a planet will have one parameter that is drastically different from its contemporary back on planet Earth.

Other parameters might sometimes be included in the planet's introduction, such as:

GRAVITY

ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY

GRAVITATIONAL ACCELERATION

STELLAR TEMPERATURE

SPIN RESONANCE

TEMPERATURE

ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN

OBLIQUITY

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE

STELLAR INTENSITY

To show the format with some of the added parameters, here is the planet Atlas from the first episode of Alien Worlds, showing a planet with an increased gravitational pull compared to Earth:

ATLAS

STAR F Class

ORBITAL DISTANCE 1.4 AU

MASS 1.21kg x 10^25

DIAMETER 16,845km

GRAVITY 2.09G

ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY 6.5kg/m^2

GRAVITATIONAL ACCELERATION 20.49m/s^2

ORBITAL PERIOD 598 d

ENERGY FLUX 1.53kW/m2

DAY LENGTH 19.28 h

(this planet, with a much higher mass than Earth, has a higher atmospheric density and gravitational pull)

* * *

The written stories also include a documentary team hired by the EIBC (Earth Interstellar Broadcast Channel) but depending on feedback I might spend more or less time on them in the future.


	2. Hiberna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life isn't easy on Hiberna, where years are shorter than days. Anyone who wants to survive here must learn to wait during the tenuous long nights and survive the exceedingly long days...

"Are you done?"

"Almost, I can't get the clip right."

"You flew us here. You managed to pilot a high-tech interstellar ship for three weeks, all the way from planet Earth and here you are struggling to attach a camera to a tripod?"

"You're not helping."

"I'll go get a meal, call me when you're ready."

"Hey hey hey, don't walk away, I got it."

"You got it?"

"Yep, cut the smugness and put your documentarian face on, camera's rolling in ten."

"Alright, putting my best angle to the front and..."

"Three, two..." the one was mouthed in silence.

* * *

"A Yellow Supergiant. Considerably bigger than our Sun. Imagine, if you will, a planet rotating so slowly, that every one of its days last longer than its years. On this planet, the day-night cycle and the seasons cycle... are one and the same. This, is Hiberna."

**Hiberna**

**STAR G Class**

**ORBITAL DISTANCE 0.78 AU**

**MASS 3.41kg x 10^24**

**DIAMETER 11,789 km**

**ORBITAL PERIOD 138 d**

**TEMPERATURE RANGE -42°C - +57°C**

**ENERGY FLUX 2.43kW/m2**

**DAY LENGTH 3413 h**

"Freshwater is present in considerable quantities on this planet. At sunset, surface water freezes over, staying solid for over half the year, while at sunrise, that water thaws, breeding live in a harsh environment. On this planet, snowfalls usually means sunrise, or sunset.

"Under the warm sunlight, water evaporates and clouds form high into the atmosphere, before moving into the low-pressure zones afflicted with night time. As night fall, these high-altitude clouds gradually cover the ground with rain and then snow, followed by a long night devoid of precipitation. Eventually, when the morning approaches, the neighbouring regions are basked in sunlight, melting the ice and causing new clouds that bring morning snowfall over the region. This cycle is severe, causing the land to spend half its time in still darkness covered in snow, and the other half in the torrid light of a bright star. Only the toughest creatures can survive this harsh environment, and their survival tactics may surprise you.

* * *

"That was a good take I think."

"Pretty perfect if you ask me, but we can do it again if you want. We're stuck here until morning. EIBC wants footage from the creature waking up, we need to monitor the cameras."

"Shit, morning, that's in what, 113 hours?"

"Yeah, and even then the filming operation will last much longer, we have to film the ice melting, the creatures waking up. It's a tedious planet, but at least it's easy."

"I heard they were pretty docile."

"I wouldn't say docile, more like neutral. We don't piss 'em off, they won't attack us or this lodge."

There was a knock at the door. Both humans quickly configured the airlock to prepare it for opening, allowing the third human to come in. Their shelter was roomy enough for four person, thus the three-people crew was perfectly comfortable inside the insulated dome. When the airlock opened, a snow-covered hermetic suit staggered inside, dropping a large empty bag on the ground and sitting on a small metal bench to take off its snowshoes and boots. Once the suit opened, it revealed a young man, huffing and panting.

"How did you do, Billy, eight and nine are set up?"

"Yes ma'am, everything in place for morning."

"Did you see them? The beasts?"

"Woah, under all that snow they kinda just look like bumps to be frank.

The two senior crewmates laughed. The young man joined them with a shy chuckle.

"How's your first planet, Billy?"

"It's fantastic, have you seen the northern lights? Huh, I guess northern light might not be the appropriate name here since we're not at the planet's north pole."

"I have, this is my second time here on Hiberna." 

"Here, I made you some coffee," said the Narrator, bringing the red-cheeked man a warm cup.

"Thank you Doctor Robertson!"

"Please, call me Alice."

* * *

"Look, sunrise!"

The Technician was looking out the window, where the first few rays of light were slowly appearing on the horizon.

"How long until the snow melts?"

"I don't know, but that should be enough light to film the introduction segments."

The Technician and the Narrator put on their hermetic suits and a few more layers on top, before heading out. Billy stayed in the shelter.

"You got the steadycam ready?"

"Camera is operationial. You want to film in front of the creatures?"

"Not right now, this is the introduction segment where we talk about the planet and such. We'll add the stellar shots right after with my voice talking over with the shots we took earlier this week."

"I hear you well, which means your microphone should be working perfectly for the recording. You're ready?"

"Ready."

"Three, two..."

* * *

"Greetings, humanity! I am Doctor Alice Robertson, here with a new episode of Alien Worlds, presented by the Earth Interstellar Broadcast Channel. We are on planet Hiberna. Here, days are longer than years. Thus, there are two seasons. Night, and Day. While these condition might seem harsh for any Earth-born plant or animal, we have discovered a myriad of fascinating life-forms that have adapted to survive in this extreme world, where nights turn the landscape into frozen tundra and days turn it into a scorching arid plain. 

As you can see around me, it is incredibly still on this cold morning. Sunrise is slowly upon us, the first rays of light barely piercing the horizon. It will take over a thousand and five hundred Earth hours for the star to be at its zenith, high above us. At that point, life will have blossomed under the powerful energy of sunlight. And yet, the average temperature at noon will be almost sixty degrees celsius, a temperature that would make anyone, or anything, sweat.

The snowfall around me is caused by the water evaporating from the region that lies in the direction of the sunrise. As this region becomes bathed in sunlight, the snow and ice will melt and travel as cloud further into the night, along the high winds.

* * *

"Cut."

"That was good."

"It sounded good!" Billy said through the radio. "Just a quick question, the script has sunrise and sunset in it a bunch, shouldn't it be starrise and starset since this star isn't the Sun?"

"Yeah, but the writers decided to use sunrise and sunset for simplicity's sake."

"Oh, fair."

"So now, we wait for all that snow to melt."

* * *

"The snow is almost all gone."

"Have you looked at the creatures, Billy?"

"Only through the cameras."

"Wanna go see them?"

"Sure. Wait, why now?"

"Look at the charts from the infrared cameras, they are about to wake up. Give it six more hours and they'll be active. If you want to look at them up close, it's now or never."

Billy and the Technician suited up to go outside while the Narrator made herself some dinner. 

"You remember the bumps in the snow?"

"Yes... and now they look like bumps in the ground."

"Watch where you step."

"Oh, sorry. Ooh, what the heck? Are those roots?"

"Roots, tentacles, tendrils, tongues, you can call them whatever you want as long as you don't step on them. We're here to document, you're a fly on the wall."

"I'll keep that in mind. Woah, the mounds have the same color as the ground. Are you... Are you sure those are the creatures? You're not messing with me right now and pointing some boulders, right?"

"Billy."

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to be sure. What do the roots do?"

"Haven't you read the script? We've been in the shelter for weeks, I've read the episode's script like seventeen times."

"Oh, you know, I have my e-reader, I'm okay on the reading material part."

"Well, let me tell you about those roots..."

* * *

The trio looked at the camera feed, which showed the creatures waking up from their hibernation.

"Woah, that doesn't look like any animal I've ever seen."

"That's because they aren't animals."

"Then what are they? Plants? Fungi?"

"Neither, technically. They are a line of living beings completely different from what we have on Earth, they don't fit in any of our existing categories."

"Although, this planet does have organisms similar to what we have on Earth. We don't talk about it in the documentary, but there are some ocean micro-organisms here that act and look a lot like Earth phytoplankton. We've collected samples of silica-based micro-organisms that are really similar to diatoms and radiolarians, but are still not exactly protozoans. I wouldn't even really call them unicellular, because I wouldn't call their structure cellular."

"Alright Alice, let's get you up front to camera four, it has by far the best view of the hibernation nest with the current daylight."

* * *

The image pans onto the Narrator as she scale a small hill towards the camera.

"...Morning. On Hiberna, this period of the day can be excruciatingly long. The star has barely risen fifteen degrees above the horizon and it has been morning for over a hundred hours. The snow has started to melt, freeing the hibernating wildlife."

The image switches to a different camera, showing a thawing river. On its side, thin beige stalks have grown out of the ground.

"These stalks are trying to grow as quickly as they can, before their predators wake up. Within the span of a few hours, they have grown over thirty centimeters long. They do not live very long, but they do have one very important mission to accomplish before noon. Reproduce."

The image comes back to the Narrator. She is kneeling on a small hill, watching the creatures.

"These hibernators have spent all night hiding under the snow, in a dormant state. They look like boulders, hiding into the environment. This would suggest a defense evolutionary tecnique, but we haven't observed any living being on this planet that would be able to act as predators to the hibernators. Three theories have been put forth about this apparently-obsolete camouflage. First, they might previously have had predators that have now gone extinct, but the camouflage isn't impacting their survival or reproduction chances negatively and thus hasn't been phased out. Second, they might have yet unknown behavior related to intra-species predation, thus hiding from other hibernators. Third, there might be predators that are actually living on a multi-year cycle and we haven't encountered them... yet.

"Earth is home to many species that hibernate on a seasonal cycle, put also on a multi-annual cycle. Several species of cicadas can spend over ten years as larvaes, hidden in the soil until the right moment to come out. Is it possible that a species of apex predators lives on Hiberna, coming out every six, ten, twenty years? That could be a plausible explanation for the hibernators' camouflage."

Cracking sounds seemingly interrupt the Narrator's speech. She looks towards them as the camera zooms on the closest organism. It rumbles and moves, then a large chunk of its top detaches and roll out. The top of the sleeping hibernator is revealed to be a wide, heavy 'tail', which was rolled up onto the hibernator during the night. Small flaps on its sides drop down, ressembling short fins. The camera zooms out, showing the other hibernators opening up, revealing their wide tail and small fins.

"This, is the hibernators true back. While hibernating, the creature shows the rocky underside of its tail and fins, a heavily insulated camouflage keeping them hidden and safe during the night. At first glance, it seems that the nub on opposite side of the tail would be the head, but the truth is that these creatures have no heads, or at least, not as we know it. A network of interconnected roots covers the ground, and looking closely, we can see that these roots are coming out from the bottom of each hibernator. These, are the hibernators' tongues, eyes, noses and hands. The roots have many functions for the creatures, but the two main uses are communication and perception.

"As nightfall approaches, the hibernator will congregate in small groups and create a root network. These creatures we are seeing have been sleeping for almost a hundred days and yet they are all waking up within minutes of each others. The extent of their communication is yet unknown, but we have observed interactions between hibernator using roots to share the location of a nearby water hole.

"These roots are also the hibernator's main sensory organ and are particularly apt at finding water sources. And as for a source of energy, they have another sensory organ. Their back."

The camera focus on the nearby hibernator. Its uncovered back is black and smooth.

"The texture and the color of their back seems familiar, for a reason. They are extremely similar to solar panels... because they essentialy are. The hibernators get their energy from the incoming light of the system's star. This allows them to survive in the harsh day, when light is the only source of energy..."

Long shot of the hibernators, showing them basking in the morning light in still silence. Then, the video feed moves back to the river bank and the little stalks.

"The stalks, which consume light just like the hibernators, are visually more reminescent of what we know on Earth as plants. They are hollow and sturdy, like reeds, but their life cycle is much different.

"They have been hard at work, growing since the first rays of light. In some cases, piercing through the snow when the temperatures were low enough. At this point, most stalks are twenty to forty centimeters tall, but some are still struggling to reach a proper height for the main event of the day. They are about to reproduce, and the entire process is dependent on one timely phenomenon. The wind of dawn.

"Here, the morning sun warms the air, which moves up into the atmosphere, containing water that will fuel the clouds. In the neighbouring night-time region, the air is cold and sticks closer to the ground. This causes a strong differential in pressure. The warm air of the morning moves high in the sky into the night, while the cold air of night winds up here in the morning. Currently, this region is being swept by cold winds, pushing further into the star-basket region. This strong wind will grow weaker and weaker as the day goes forward. At midday, this region will be surrounded on all sides by similarly warm regions and the wind will be much weaker and much less predictable.

The live feed shows one of the stalks up close, its broad triangular tip slowly widening as a small sphere stretches it.

"This, is the stalk's goal. An hydraulic system within its body pumps air into a flexible sac, which acts as a balloon."

The camera pans out, revealing hundreds of other stalks along the river bank. The thin bodies' sandy color contrasts with the brightly colored balloons growing out of their tips. Blue, red, green, purple, a rainbow covers the screen.

"They inflate these balloons for several minutes, until the thin elastic skin reaches a bursting point."

A loud *pop* resonates as one balloon explodes, filling the air with tiny particles which are swept up by the wind. Several other balloons explode, but the camera lingers on one balloon that is slowly deflating.

"This individual hasn't popped properly. A puncture within the sac's skin is causing to deflate, preventing it from sending its seeds into the wind. For this individual, the lineage seemingly stops here, and this failure was brought on by... sabotage."

Several other stalks are seen deflating on camera.

"The balloons contain seeds, but when looking closely, they also sometime bear sand grains across their skin. When the first balloons erupt, these grains are propulsed around the stalk, sometimes hitting and piercing other balloons that are not fully grown yet. This causes the competition to deflate and fail to reproduce.

"High above, we can see the clouds of seeds, melting and combining to create offsprings. They will be brought on by the cold wind further into the day. A vast number of theses seeds will be lost into arid wasteland, withering away, but some might fall down next to lakes or rivers, where they will burrow into the ground and wait until the next morning.

The camera pans onto one of the deflated balloons. It hangs off to the side of the stalk and liquid slowly drips out of a hole.

"All is not lost for those stalks. This bank has already proven to be fertile ground for their kind. The deflated balloons let their seed drop on the ground, as do a large number of other stalks. There is a lot of competition to stay here, and not all offspring will have the space to grow and thrive here, but it is better than nothing. Over time, some stalks have evolved to specialize in one strategy or the other. Those that are more prone to puncture early will have more aggressive seeds, while those that have strong balloons will have lighter seeds made to fly farther with the wind.

"When we first saw this morning ritual, we believed the stalks were rushing to prevent being preys for the hibernator, but we have since then come to the conclusion that the pressing factor is the strong cold morning wind. If they wait too long, they will miss it and their offsprings will be limited in the span of land thay can conquer. While the hibernator could compete with them for water or accidentally crush them, the vast quantity of stalk and the limited number of hibernator, as well as the stalk's short lifespan, has shown that they are not an evolutionary pressure on each other."

The video feed comes back towards the hibernator. They are starting to move.

"Using their flaps, they can crawl. They are not very fast, but they are sturdy, patient and cooperative. They will spend a few hours sunbathing, until they have enough energy to start crawling towards a source of water. The individuals on the outer edge of the circle are extending their roots in every direction, already-

* * *

"Cut, cut."

"What?"

"Look, one of the hibernators' root is reaching for a camera."

"Shoot, that's camera three, I didn't think they would reach that far."

"Do we move it or do we leave it as is?"

"We already have four other cameras focused on them, we can take away number three. Billy, keep your handheld on Alice while I take care of it."

"Yes ma'am." He turned to the Narrator with his camera.

"I'll take it back from the last sentence. Whenever you're ready."

"Three, two..." and he held a finger for the one while mouthing silently, mimicking the Technician's technique.

"The individuals on the outer edge of the circle are extending their roots in every direction..."

* * *

"... already looking for any nearby spots of liquid water. Close by is a narrow spring fueled by the remaining parcels of snow melting fom the nearby hills, this should quench them until they are ready to crawl to a more plentyful source of water.

"The stalks have a very short life, spending their few precious hours building up the next generation. The hibernators, however, can live for a much longer time. They are much more picky when it comes to reproduction and can spend many days without breeding. The majority of their life is spent within small family groups, like the one we see on screen, whereas six of the hibernators are the descendents of the other two. Eventually, as they move from year to year, they might encounter another small group.

"When two group meets, they momentarily form a larger one, with an extended root network to show. The hibernators will spend many hours sunbathing in the company of these newcomers, communicating silently through the roots. If two individuals fancy each other, they will then split from their respective group and move away, eventually forming their own group.

"Energy is not a limiting factor for hibernators, but water is. Their reproduction cycle is short and produces limited amount of offspring, but if there were too many of them, the competition would be detrimental for their survival.

"Xenoecologists and xenobiologists have been arguing over the intelligence of these creatures ever since we've first set foot on this planet. The extent of their communication, done through the roots, is largely unknown to us. Are they sentient? Do they choose mates out of love? Would it be possible for us communicate with them? These questions, and many others, will be in the mind of the scientists studying them for years to come.

Footage of hibernators retracting their roots, before crawling away. As they slowly make their way, every once in a while they stop in their tracks, reform simple root networks, stand still a bit, before retracting the roots and moving again.

* * *

"Every form of life in the Universe, be it on Earth or across the stars, has the same prerogatives. Survive, and reproduce. On Hiberna, curious life forms have adapted to the long days, and the long nights. Stalks and hibernators use different strategies and show different physiologies, using the energy of the star and waiting out the long cold night. Eventually, other life forms might take their place, better adapted to the days of Hiberna, but for now, these are the inhabitants of this world, and they are making the most of it."

* * *

How might life adapt on a different world? One littered by the remains of ancient civilization, decimated by the power of the atom.


	3. Hades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can life thrive anywhere? Could it survive in the ashes of nuclear fallout? How would life adapt to a world burned by the power of nuclear fission?

"What if intelligent life exists away from Earth? Imagine a planet where an advanced civilization... used to prevail. That is, until their own scientific advances caused their end. This... is Hades."

**Hades**

**STAR B Class**

**ORBITAL DISTANCE 3.1 AU**

**MASS 5.15kg x 10^24**

**DIAMETER 10,450 km**

**ORBITAL PERIOD 612 d**

**ENERGY FLUX 0.8kW/m2**

**DAY LENGTH 15 h**

**BACKGROUND RADIATION 27 mSv/h**

"The night sky of Hades has always been vibrant and colorful, even before there was any life on the planet. The solar system is surrounded by a large Nebula. The solar system was built from the remnants of a massive supernova. Hades is a heavy planet, containing a larger amount of heavy elements than Earth. Rare Earth Elements are more prevalent here, as well as radioactive materials."

The image moves down under the clouds, showing a rainy grey waste. The camera drone flies lower until it is close enough to the surface to film a ruined building. A human wearing a yellow hermetic suit walks into frame.

"We are on planet Hades. The structure that you see behind me are the ruins of an ancient civilization. Living on a young planet, there were barely any fossil fuels available, thus their energy needs quickly became dependent on other sources. We have found artefacts that lets us presume they could gather energy from wind and starlight, but the vast majority of their energy needs were furnished by radioactivity. This planet has an unusualy large amount of radioactive material, and this was the case even before the civilization came into existence. Large, extensive ruins show that they had built immense structures, buildings and artworks that are forever lost. Something happened and now their world is nothing but shambles."

The human takes out a tool and turns it on. Suddenly a repetitive clicking sound fills the audio.

"The whole planet is irradiated by severe radiations. With an average background radiation of 27 millisieverts per hour. To contrast, the background radiation on Earth is around 2 to 3 millisieverts... per year. A year of radiation on Earth, is equal to six minutes, on Hades. A dose of one hundred millisievert is enough to increases chances of cancer in humans. When staring at this wasteland, one can't help but ask, could anything even survive on this planet?"

The video feeds cut to another location. Two humans in yellow suits are crouching behind a low broken wall. Above them, the camera films the decrepit ruins of what looks to have been a city. One of the human turns to the camera and puts a finger in front of her helmet, mimicking the gesture of shushing. She then turns around to look beyond the wall. The camera moves forward, revealing something moving through the ruins. A zoom allows a clearer view of the moving individual.

"The biggest living being on Hades. This, is a harvester. A living... nuclear power plant."

The six-legged beast trudges through the ashes, its long tail leaving a linear trail in the ground behind it as it walks. At the front is a thick but short neck supporting a large head with a broad mouth.

"These beasts are able to survive the nuclear fallout, because they are artificial. They were built by the ancient civilization, who designed them to simplify the process of harvesting nuclear material for their industries. Instead of a digestive system, its insides are filled with a miniaturized nuclear power plant. The civilization had managed to create power plants small enough to fit in the equivalent of a living room. It looks for radioactive material by itself, crushing rocks with its massive powerful jaw. It is constantly ejecting unused material in the form of molten rock. While they are approximately the size of a full-grown killer whale, they are much heavier."

The video switches to a different camera, showing a harvester's trail, recognizable by the long linear trench and the round foot tracks on each sides. On the ground, in the middle of the trail is a large slab of rock.

"The harvester 'digests' rock to extract radioactive material, then the remainder is melted and discarded as lava, which will quickly solidify. These 'puddles' of volcanic rock are present all over the trails of the harvesters. The beast is able to melt rocks due to the high temperature incurred because of the nuclear reaction within their core. This temperature, however, can quickly become a problem if left unchecked."

The camera moves away, until it reaches a small hill in the middle of a field. As the view gets closer, it can be seen that the hill is actually an ash-covered corpse.

"This harvester bit off more than it could chew. After aquiring a large quantities of radioactive material, it couldn't cool itself down in time and ended up melting its own belly."

The camera turns to the other side, where its belly can be seen, half-melted and half-ripped-open.

"Other harvesters passed by it while it was dead or dying. As far as we've seen, they will not actively hunt other harvesters, but they will not hesitate to scavenge a dead individual. But they are not the only ones..."

The camera zooms inside the open belly of the harvester, showing the cracked core, which is covered in a thin yellow moss.

"Moss... Living, natural, organisms. Similar to the vegetation of Earth, except for one major difference. Instead of starlight, it derives its energy from radioactive decay. It is a simple organism, with a very simple molecular structure and an extremely short lifespan."

A small puff of yellow mist erupts out of the moss and is carried by the wind.

"A patch of moss reproduces approximately every six hours, sending spores into the wind. The organism can live up to thirty days and starts producing spores on its eight. By having a short life, this limits the amount of cellular and molecular damage that it receives in a lifetime from radiations. Their one source of energy is also their greatest threat. And yet it persists and it adapts. The individuals who couldn't whitstand the harsh effects of radiations were unable to survive and reproduce, thus leaving only those which were most apt to thrive in this scarred landscape."

The video feeds shows the cloud of yellow spore falling into nearby ashes.

"The moss needs a strong substrate to thrive. It grows on rocks, ruins, sometimes directly on the harvesters' hard skin, but mostly they can be found on harvesters' droppings. When spores fall onto soft ashy ground, they are soon buried under layers of ashes. These spores don't usually get the chance to become fully fledged moss, as the physical conditions are ill-suited for their growth and the ashes are home to predators."

The camera switches to a macro magnified view of the spores down on the ashes, showing the spherical yellow cells. A translucent tendrils pushes out of the ashes and rolls around the spore, pulling it underground.

"Microscopic scavengers. Their structure is mostly made out of silica, which they collect from feeding. The moss, which grows on rocky substrate, has a high mineral composition, which is less prone to radiation-induced harmful mutation. It is this high mineral composition that allows the scavengers to build silica frames."

A different video feed plays, showing a scavenger under a microscope. It looks like a thin stick of glass with tendrils on one end.

"This physical structure is not unheard of on our own planet. Poriferas, more commonly known as sponges, often have skeletons made out of numerous microscopic silica spicules to help them keep a solid structure.

"The scavengers' mineral body makes them a lot less prone to harmful radiation, but the difficulty in building this strong structure means that they are limited in the size they can attain. At a maximum size of 100µm, they are currently the largest living organisms on Hades, after the harvesters. They consume anything within range, but their diet consists mostly of spores."

The scavengers under the microscope shifts on itself, showing a different angle to the camera. A short stick of glass appears to be coming out of its side.

"The scavengers reproduce by budding. Over the course of its life, it will grow other organisms across its body, which will stick out in multiple directions, until it becomes over-encumbered by the next generation. When it becomes unable to move, it will release an enzyme across its main body, which fragilizes it and causes it to break, allowing the younger scavengers to crawl away. On average, a scavengers will die with five to twenty babies, if it manages to reach the end of its natural life cycle. Young scavengers are light and much more agile, allowing them to crawl through the ash for a few days, before growing too big to properly crawl. Typically, they will move between five and fifty centimeters in their first few days, then when they reach adulthood they will keep to a territory of aproximately five squared millimeters. Cannibalism isn't rare among scavengers. They derive more energy from the moss spores, but a full-grown adult will not hesitate to eat young scavengers traversing through its territory."

The video moves back to a wideview of the planet's surface. A human is standing next to a large lake, engulfed in mist. They point forward and the camera focuses on a large column of steam emanating from the water.

"Moss sometimes grow on the skin of harvester, but never for long. The moss can only ever live there as long as the beast doesn't eat. When it does, the nuclear reaction within its core brings its external temperature to such a degree that the moss burns. To avoid melting itself, the harvester needs to cool itself down. Thus, they never stray too far away from water. This column of steam moves across the water, because it emanates from a harvester walking at the bottom. After consuming, they rush to water. They wander across the bottom, warming the waters around themselves. They have to keep moving, or the water and mud directly around them will become too warm to properly cool them down. This behavior is the reason why there so little living beings in the waters Hades.

"Harvesters are keystone species. Like elephants and beavers on Earth, they have such a considerable impact on their environment, that they substantially influence the ecosystem in which they live. On Hades, lakes and rivers are often brought up to boiling temperatures, which considerably affects the species that are already struggling to survive in a nuclear wasteland. The microscopic scavengers are particularly susceptible to high temperature because of their siliceous composition, for biogenic silica is more soluble in warm waters. The very trait that allows them to survive the noxious effects of nuclear fallout has barred them from surviving in the boiling waters of the planet.

"Their cooling behavior makes it much more difficult for everything else to survive underwater. Yet, their droppings provide solid mineral substrate for moss, periodically creating new hard surfaces above the ash and helping the moss thrive, which in turn gives more potential sustenance for the scavengers on land."

The video then comes back to show a harvester wandering through the ruined street of what looks like an ancient city.

"Would life thrive better on this planet without these artificial behemoths? Or is their presence integral to the continued survival of life? The harvesters did not evolve naturally, they were made artificially, by creators that have long since left this world. Yet, they are an undeniable living part of Hades' ecosystem.

A loud bellowing resonates through the streets. The harvesters lifts its head forward. The top of the beasts head ressembles a dark glass panel. Flashes of green and purple appear across it.

"Harvesters do not have typical eyes. They have a complicated set of electromagnetic radiation sensors which allows them to create a three dimensional image of their surrounding within their mind. This sense also allows them to locate large sources of radiation. In this case, a fellow harvester."

The camera turns to further down the street. A few hundred meters away, a second harvester is heaving in the street. A loud howl resonates in the canyon of ruined buildings as it lets out a torrent of lava from its mouth. This seems to attract the attention of the first harvester, as the camera zooms on its head, showing the color pattern on it shifting in shapes and colors. Slowly, the two individuals walk toward each other, finally meeting in the middle of the street. 

"The second harvester was regurgitating rock with a high-amount of radioactive material. It did so to attract the first harvester, to commence the mating ritual. It discards highly-radioactive material as a show of strength, to prove to its prospective mate that it is able to thrive in this world to such a degree that it can waste high amounts of energy and still survive."

The two harvesters bow down in front of one another, the thick glass plates on their head now colorful displays of shapes and colors.

"They appear to be communicating by emiting simple sets of electromagnetic radiations. At the moment, it appears that they are both receptive. The harvesters can live long solitary lives, sometimes for hundreds of years. The only time when they interact with each other is during these mating rituals, which tend to happen a few times within their lives, but only succeeds once. Indeed, when they finally interact with a partner they deem worthy, this signals the end of their life."

The two harvesters rub their head against one another, then they walk away together.

"They will now walk towards a decently-sized water source."

The camera follows the two harvesters as the narrator continues.

"Together, they will walk to the bottom of a deep lake or sea, somewhere as cold as they can find, and they will begin the definitive chapter of their life. They will mate and form a conjoined mineral coccoon, a common factory into which they will pour all their ressources to craft young harvesters. The process which transforms their body is irreversible and they will thus only reproduce once. They will produce two to five offsprings, which will undoubtedly consume the corpse of their parents to gain the necessary energy to crawl back out of the deep water.

"Harvesters were created by a terrestrial civilization and thus were initialy engineered to stay mostly on land, where their creator had easy access to them and could harvest the produced energy. Their sensors work better in air than in water and they are perfectly adapted to crush the more easily attainable rocks on land. Most harvesters are unsuited to the task of digging through the thick layers of sediments at the bottom of the oceans to find radioactive minerals buried beneath. But a few can be seen trying. It has been many generation since the end of the civilization, some harvesters show signs of adaptations for underwater survival. Feet better adapted to digging. More aerodynamic bodies. Smaller bodies with stronger limbs to climb back up the slopes of deep marine trenches. Is it possible that in twenty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand generations, we could see harvesters fully adapted to life underwater?

"Radioactive material is not infinite on Hades, but there is more than enough present on the planet to allow the harvesters to survive on the planet for a long time. Will they still be alive if plants colonize the land again? Will they still roam through the planes of this world when the radiation levels become low enough again to allow complex multicellular organisms to thrive and populate the world? Will they still be present on Hades if a new civilization rises? For these behemoths, these questions are irrelevant. They have adapted to survive in the world which they currently inhabit. Like the moss and the scavengers, they thrive in the nuclear wastes of Hades. If the world changes, their survival will be tied to how well they can adapt to the new environmental and ecological parameters.

"The scavengers will eat anything in sight, including their own. They are generalists and will thrive in most conditions. The moss will thrive as long the planet is still irradiated. Over time, the radioactivity will decrease, and at some point the moss will have to adapt to a new source of energy, or bite the ash. The harvesters are highly specialized machines, but they have no predators and no parasite, as nothing on the planet is big enough to hunt them or able to survive the melting temperature of their "digestive system." Maybe they will go the way of the dinosaurs, ruling Hades for over a hundred million year, until a cataclysm or sudden climactic change brings their inevitable end."

The camera pans out as the two harvesters enter a lake. As the beasts dissapear under the dark opaque waters, bubbles are seen rising up and soon a column of steam moves slowly across the water as they trudge farther in, towards the depth.

* * *

"No one knows what the future holds for Hades, but despite the desolate ruins littering it, this dark, gloomy, ashy, grey wasteland is a shining example of the perseverance of life. As long as there is energy, something will find a way to survive in order to harvest it. In the most daunting conditions, life might suprise us and thrive. And even at its lowest depth, life can find a way to bounce back..."

* * *

"How might life adapt on a different world? One where solid ground is practicaly inexistant. Can life exist on a gas giant?


End file.
